Discussion Board

LEADERSHIP UNCUT/Brian Evje October 31, 2013

Leadership Lessons From the San Francisco Giants How did the San Francisco Giants win? The same way your company can.

Rob Tringali/Getty

Buster Posey #26 of the San Francisco Giants celebrates by holding up the World Series Trophy after defeating the Texas Rangers in Game Five of the 2010 MLB World Series at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, Texas on November 1, 2010.

As a lifelong San Francisco Giants fan, I’m thrilled that the club just won its second World

Series in three seasons and is celebrating today in San Francisco. As a management

consultant, I’m very pleased that their journey highlights useful leadership lessons for

people who want to succeed in highly competitive industries. Here are 7 lessons.

1. Listen To and Encourage Unfamiliar Voices

Behind by two games in a best-of-five playoff series, an unfamiliar voice spoke to the team

before an elimination game. Outfielder Hunter Pence, who joined the Giants nine weeks

earlier, was an unlikely source of a Knute Rockne-like speech. By all accounts, his

impassioned exhortations helped inspire 11 victories in the next 14 games, including a four-

game sweep in the World Series.

Clearly, the Giants’ organization created an environment that made Pencefeel safe enough

to speak up. What would have happened to the end of the season if the Giants’ culture did

not allow this kind of expression? How does your organization encourage or punish

unfamiliar voices?

2. A Charismatic Leader Is Not Required

Giants’ Manager Bruce Bochy is about as laconic as they come. (Giants’ broadcaster Jon

Miller joked that sometimes interviewing Bochy nearly puts him to sleep.) Bochy’s lack of

charisma belies his fierce steadiness - nothing seems to rattle him, and this even keel was

remarkably contagious to the team during tough times. Bochy’s baseball knowledge (his

“hard skills”) is second to none; his ability to relate to people (his “soft skills”) is firmly

focused on aligning others to the shared purpose; and, like every good

coach/manager/leader, when the team loses Bochy takes responsibility. And when the

Giants win, he gives all the credit to the team.

3. Culture Does Change

For more than a decade, the Giants organization revolved around superstar Barry Bonds,

whose mammoth home runs were matched by his divisive presence in the clubhouse (and

involvement with performance-enhancing drugs.) In short, it was all about Barry. After the

organization decided not to re-sign Bonds, the Giants’ leadership consciously turned the

page to shift the focus from A Star to The Team. This decision was supported by the hiring

of a new manager (Bochy), shuffling people and responsibilities at the ownership level, and

signing players with a “team first” mindset.

The point is that the culture change happened because changes were made first at the top,

and the new priorities permeated the organization because leadership made it an ongoing

priority with unrelenting resolve. You can affect culture change in your organization with a

similar approach.

4. When One Door Closes…

The Giants faced several serious challenges this season. They lost a key pitcher at the start of

the season; their nearest division rivals made a dramatic talent acquisition late in the season

in an effort to win the division; and in August the Giants’ best player was suspended for the

season. One can easily see analogous challenges in the business world - and the point is

how an organization responds. The Giants chose to face these adversities as genuine

opportunities to coalesce as a team and re-commit to a shared purpose. When one door

closed, the team found another door to open.

5. Rebuild When Needed

The Giants’ starting lineup for 2012 World Series included only one position player from

their 2010 championship team. After a successful end to 2010, the 2011 season was

disappointing for a number of reasons. The Giants’ management realistically and

dispassionately evaluated the current personnel and made many changes to serve the future

while letting go of the past.

6. Know Your People

During their championship season, the Giants adjusted for injuries and inconsistent

performances, and asked certain players to take on new roles. The majority of these

transitions were successful because the club a) connected all of the changes to the broader

vision of doing what was best for the team, b) recognized that not everyone is

interchangeable, and did not make over-the-top demands of people, and c) gave plenty of

support and encouragement to those who were asked to do new things.

7. Play For Each Other

The core of Hunter Pence’s inspiring speeches was that he did not want the season to end

because he did not want to stop being with the team. He did not want the group to

disband. He spoke of his respect and love for each member of the team. He spoke of

belonging to something larger than himself, more special than anything he could

accomplish alone, and the fleeting nature of the experience. The team responded by not

focusing on the fear of failure, or the potential of losing glory and individual riches.

Instead, they played to not let down their teammates. They played for a shared

purpose. They played for each other.

And in the process, they happened to win a championship.

Brian Evje is a management consultant with the organizational-effectiveness practice Slalom Consulting and an advisory board member of Astia, a global not-for-profit dedicated to increasing women's participation in high-growth businesses.